Romania 0-0 France Zurich - Letzigrund
The match between France and Romania never lived up to expectations. Romania coach probably watched the videos between Scotland and France in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Romania came into match with a game plan. They decided not to let the French settle into their system and they were successful with their strategy. I think French will find it very hard to qualify out of so called group of death. Some of their players are too young and some are well past their best days. The successful teams in these tournaments have the age range of 24 to 28 and French are missing the players in this range. French created couple of good chances in the match, but they were not able to finish their chances. I think Benzema played too deep down the midfield. They need to play him as a striker to make an impact for France. Ribery was also kept quite by the Romanian defense. It was one of the most boring matches of the Euro 2008 so far.

Man of the Match: Cristian Chivu (Romania)


Netherlands 3-0 Italy Berne - Stade de Suisse
Creators of Total Football destroyed the creators of Catenaccio in the second match of group C. Dutch were brilliant against the Italians and they fully deserved their 3-0 victory. It was first time since 1978 world cup match that Dutch beat the Italians. I think Dirk Kuyt was awesome for the Dutch and he provided two assists for the match. He was my man of the match. Many people do not give him the credit for his hard work including some of the Liverpool supporters. I think he does all the donkey work to provide space for Torres and Gerrard. Rudd Van Nistelrooy scored the first goal from the cross provided by Kuyt and he missed two other good chances before and after that goal as well. It was dodgy goal, because he was in off side position. It was karma for Italians, they cheated against Australia to get the penalty and the first goal scored by AC Milan in 2007 European Cup final was hand ball. Sneijder beautifully headed the goal from Kuyt’s cross to make it 2-0. Van Bronckhorst scored the third goal in 80 minute. I think Italians need to go back to blackboard and work on the basics. They were lackluster and destroyed by a Dutch side missing some of their key players. It was the best match of the tournament and best match I have seen since the second leg match against Arsenal at Anfield in Champions League. Dutch kept attacking even after going up 2-0. Many pundits are considering the Dutch super hot favorite for the tournament after destroying World Champions. I think they must not get over confidents after this great performance. They still need to win 5 more matches to claim their first major honor on international stage since 1988.

Man of the Match: Dirk Kuyt (Netherlands)